Improved machine tor nicking screws



cantieri tapesatwt dtjijiiw.

.Letters Patent No. 101,228, dated March 29, 1870.

The Schedule referred to ln these Letters P=tent aid making part of the same.

1, NATHAN S. CLEMENT, of Northampton, in the county of Hampshire, Stat-e of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in'Machines for Nick'- ng Screws, ofwhich the following is a speciilcation,

' reference being had t0 the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention;

Figure 2 a top view; and y Figures 3, 4, 5, 6,. aud 7, detached views of the va.- rious parts ofthe same.

Similar letters of reference `indicate like parts.

My invention consists in the employment of a carriage provided with automatic clamping devices which hold the blanks, while the carriage carries them by a series of stationary cutters which nick the heads of said screws, and then'releases them and allows them to be discharged over au inclined apron.

It also consists in the peculiar arrangement of the hoppers, taking-up fingers, and 'track for feeding the screws to said cariiage all as hereinafter more fully described.

A designates the hopper, the bottom of which is semicircular and provided with an opening or slot, b, on the back side, suicient-ly wide to allow the body of the screws to-pass through it.

The screws or screw-blanks are placed promiscuously in the hopper A, and taken up by the fingers a a, which are attached to the inside sides ot' the revolving annular rims (l d', and immediately above the center of the hopper A, so that both the hopper aud rims have a common axis or center.

As the lingers a a revolve, a number of the screwblanks are caught between them by their heads, while the motion of the iingers a a, through the hopper A, will cause the bodies of many of the blanks to extend through the slot b, in such position that their heads will be caught by the next pair of tingcrs.

When said ngers reach the point, onaboutthat point, indicated in tig. 1, the screw-blanks slide downward onto the track B, the upper end of which track is curved inward at s, so that the inner ends of the tingers aa' will, in the progress of their revolution', meet the upper end of track B, as showniu lig. 2. The blanks then work down the track B. in the usual manner, until the same istilled.

C designates the main shaft, to which the motive power is applied.

^ On one end of shaft G is a crank-pin, c, ou which is arranged an ordinary slotted and pivoted lever, e, connected, by pitmau f, to levers g,'ou which is the pawl h, which operates the ratchet-wheel D, which ratchet-Wheel is secured to the same shaft as are the rims d d.

T o the opposite end of the shaft C is attached a beveled gear, indicated by broken lines in iig. 1,whichI meshes into gear E, which gearE is secured to the carriage F.

The carriage F is provided with spring jaws i t", a detached end view of which is shown in tig. 6.

On one side of the jaws 'M is a sliding wedge, j, which is connected to a screw, 7c, provided with dogs l I', and a spring, lu.. A side elevation of -said wedge," screw, dog, and spring is shown iu fig. 5.

rEhe dog l l is fitted so as to turne on the end of the screw k, and is held on by pin x. One end of spring u is passed through the dog l, while the other end is secured to the screw le.

A small cap, m m., s` placed over the jaws i yi and wedgej, to hold the same in place.

For dierent-sized screws, jaws of different thickg nesses can readily be inserted.

As the carriage F revolves, the dog'l strikes the trip n, which may be provided with a friction-roller, if desired and turns said dog, when the end of the spring u strikes the pin x, and thus gives a positive motion to the screw k and withdraws the wedge j, which allows the jawsi i to open, and, as they pass under the end of the track B, the lower screw-blank falls into Ithem.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the lower end ot the track B, with the cap y removed.

The adjustable or spring foot r, which is secured. to the lower end of track B, extends partially over the carriage F, and prevents the blank from raising out of the jaws i i until the dog l' strikes the trip o, (seefig: 2,) and, by means of the spring u, turns the screw k inward, and presses in the wedge j until the jaws t i firmly gripe the screw-blank, when the spring `will yield, and allow the dog l l' to turn without further turning the screw k, thus accommodating the slight variations in the size of the screw-blanks.

As the carriage F passes on,'the head of the blank soon strikes the lfirst tooth in the series of stationary cutters G, and a light chip is planed out of the nick. Each successive tooth of the cutters G being a little longer than-the one preceding it, the head of the screw-blank is properly nicked by the time it has passed the last tooth of cutters G.

A similar series of cutters might be arranged on a straight line, while the screw-blanks could be carried by the cutters on au endless apron, the operation of which cutters would he substantially the same as above described.

The trip a opens the jaws i i, as before described, and releases the blank, when its head is immediately caught by the inclined apron p, and rides up the same out from between the jaws fi t', which jaws will be ready to receive anotherblauk as they again pass under the track B.

Ourthe rims f1 d'1 have shown only one pair of fingers, and in the carriage only one pair of jaws, but

these parts can be duplicated as many times as may' be desired.

4 Thetake-up f ngers aa should be of such length that their ends will nearly reach the slot bin the hopper A, but should not extend through the same, by which arrangement a smaller hopper can be used, as the body ofthe screws will be placed in the best pos sible position tov be taken up by the fingers a a.

The peculiar form of the lingers, and the position in which they are set, causes the screw-blanks to be discharged before the lingers have passed once around the axis on which said lingers revolve, as clearly shown in Iig. l.

By making the inward curve s on the upper end of track B, andl this peculiar form of fingers, I am enabled to'placed as many pairs of fingers on the rims d d' as may be desired.

The ngels are adjustable for screw-heads of different sizes, as' follows:

The rim d is rigidly secured to the same shaft as is the ratchet-wheel I). Immediately back of rim d is a collar, g, which is connected with rim d by means of pins r r r which pass through the rim d. As the fingers a a are secured to the iims d d', slipping the collar q upon the shaft and securing the same in place by set-screw, or. its equivalent, the rims and fingers vcan be opened or closed to` acconimmlate screws of different sizes. I

The adjustable foot vv of the track B not only serves to hold the screws in the jaws it until they are closed, but it should be of thin flexible metal, sufficiently rigid to hold the screws in the track in ordinary cases, but yielding enough to allowing a screw-blank to pass out, in case the same .should not properly enter the jawsz' t'.

The series of stationary cutters G are formed 'in f segments, with one or more teeth on each, so that, as

the ends of said teeth wear. and. are sharpened, the

same can be adjusted outward more or less as de-4 sired.

The last tooth in the series of cutters G should be placed so as to come nearly in contact with the inside edge of the carriage I?, which arrangement will prevent the chips from rolling up and clinging to the screw-head.

Although I consider it preferable to use the stationary cutters G, a solid revolving cutter might be used on this machine, by causing it to revolve on a different axis from that of the carriage, as shown in fig. 4.

The base H is intended to be of cast metal, and cored out hollow, with a central hub, in which is keyed a shaft, so as to be raised and lowered, but not to revolve. The upper end of said shaft is tapering, and the carriage F revolves on the same.

By'raisng and lowering the shaft it can be made to properly t the carriage F without changing the Immediately under the cutters A position of the latter. G are suitable holes, to conduct the chips and sodawater used in nicking to the interior of the base H, as indicated by broken lines in fig.,1.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination ofthe series of stationary cutters G, carriage F, and an automaticl griping mechanism, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination of the 'carriage F, jaws t i, wedgej, screw k, dog l l', spring fu, and trips n and o, all arranged to clamp and release thescrew, substantially as described.

3. The inclined apron p, in combination with the carriagefF, and arranged so 4as to raise the screws Vfrom out of the jaws t t', as described.

4. The combination of -the lingers a. a, rims d d or their equivalents, and the curve s, in upper end of the track B, all arranged so that the lingers revolve in a direct line with the upper end of the track B, and

meet the same at a point between the outer-.ends of said fingers and the axis on which they revolve.

5. The combination and arrangement o f'the fingers a a, rims d d', and collar q, for adjusting the fingers to different-sized screws, substantially as described. NATHAN S. CLEMENT. Witnesses:

J AMEs SHEPARD, C. A. SHEPARD. 

